JUNE 9, 2020
- allisonbye
- Jun 14, 2020
- 3 min read
On health and economic disparities in America, in the time of Coronavirus and mass protests:
"We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch together a new garment. One that fits all humanity and nature."
Educational:
1) Racial inequities have plagued the American healthcare system for centuries. The following information does not and cannot represent the alarming scope of these inequities.
According to the CDC, "Black women were 3.3 times more likely than white women to suffer a pregnancy-related death; Native American and Alaska Native women were 2.5 times more likely to die than white women" (Rabin, NYT*).
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health (OMH), African Americans suffer disproportionately from conditions like asthma, diabetes, cancer, chronic liver disease and others. Moreover, these conditions are more likely to be fatal for African American patients. Please review the full report here.
What is most important to underscore here is that statistics like these are often wielded against BIPOC communities and contribute to racist stigmas around health and wellness. These conditionsare notinherent to people of color; they are symptoms of the American systems that were not built to protect or care for black, indigenous, people of color. It is important to bear this in mind as we process how the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disproportionately effect these communities. Thisthree minute segment from NPR is a good place to start.
*Since NYT has a paywall, I try to avoid linking their articles. You can find the information shared here in the CDC report and the OMH report, linked below again.
2) Unsurprisingly, the health and economic fallouts from the COVID-19 pandemic have fallen largely upon people of color. According to NPR, "The same labor-market inequalities that existed before the pandemic still clearly exist now. For example, the unemployment rate for white workers is 12.4 percent. That is really high, but it's not nearly as high as the unemployment rate for black workers, which is 16.8 percent. Or Hispanic workers, which is 17.6 percent" (Greenfieldboyce, NPR).
This nine minute segment from NPR examines a reliable data set from over 2 million people to explore the economic impact of the pandemic among racial lines in America.
Actionable:
Hopefully the information shared above gives you a scope of the massive issues at hand. The immediate question is: how can we support people who are impacted most severely? Please find below a number of resources and action-items.
As Covid-19 cases continue to spike in the coming days and weeks, please bear in mind that with the United State's lack of testing and tracing, plus a 14 day incubation period, the spike in cases we are seeing right now are more likely due to rushed re-openings and rowdy Memorial Day celebrations as opposed to very recent protests. An ER Doctor's take here.
Support Black businesses. Need hand sanitizer? Masks? Perhaps a Father's Day Gift? Check out this online marketplace of black makers and businesses.
Download the app Black Wallet to make it incredibly easy to find black-owned businesses, events and more. No more Amazon!
Contribute to supply drop-offs, clothing drives, food drives and more near you. For MN-based readers, Winsome Goods is hosting a clothing driveto distribute to communities in North Minneapolis.
To contribute no matter where you are, check out this huge list of mutual aid funds to contribute to.
On-Going Resource Bank:
- This spreadsheet, organized by Jodi Taylor and L Cardenas, is a resource-sharing jackpot. It details petitions to sign, black business to support, places to donate and more.
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